The Australasian Jazz and Improvisation Research Network (AJIRN) is pleased to announce a call for papers/presentations for a 3-day research conference on jazz and improvised music in association with the 2017 Melbourne International Jazz Festival (MIJF).

Discussion around agency has accumulated in significant research and commentary about jazz and improvisation – particularly in terms of aesthetics, culture and cognition. The thrust of the discussion seems to have moved from assuming the musician has singular agency in his or her work to a more distributed agency where other agents collaborate to create music.

In this conference, we encourage a cross-section of researchers from the field to explore the notion of agency in jazz from multiple perspectives, including:

the consequential and inter-related impact of diverse and dynamic agents on creativity and innovation in improvised and experimental Jazz;

how agency is articulated in the analysis of performance/composition, including for example, identifying methods of analysis appropriate to a particular modality;

articulating and accommodating sociological concepts of agency, such as maintaining allegiance to localities in globalised, post-diasporic Jazz;

How agents and agencies are characterised in performance experimentation;

The utilisation of agents and agencies external to the composer, performer and performance; and

The contrasting frameworks of musicologists and experimental performers/composers in relation to agency.

The list is by no means either exhaustive or exclusive.

Papers and proposal for presentations that could include live performances are welcome from researchers.

There will be two formats offered:

Presentations/papers of 20 minute followed by 10mins discussion.

Post Graduate presentations/papers of 10 minutes followed by 10 minutes of panel discussion. These papers can be on the topic specific to their research with expert feedback by a panel.

300 word abstracts/proposals and 150 word bios to be submitted by: 3rd April 2017 to fiona@ajirn.com before 11:59 pm

Applicants will be informed of their acceptance/rejection by 15th April, 2017.